Legal Help Desk

Ambulance workers jeered at and refused to treat Tyra Hunter, a transgender
woman seriously injured in a car accident outside Washington, DC who later
died from her wounds. The same kind of hate-fueled medical negligence killed
Robert Eads, a transgender man with ovarian cancer whom 20 separate doctors
wouldn’t treat; one said the diagnosis should make Eads “deal with the fact that
he is not a real man.”

When DOMA and Prop 8 are struck down, we at Lambda Legal will celebrate this huge victory and important step forward. But as we enter our fifth decade of fighting for equality, we know that our work is far from over.

Violence is a plague in the lives of many transgender and gender-nonconforming
(TGNC) people, with hate-motivated beatings and murders very common,
often involving extra cruelty. According to the National Coalition of
Anti-Violence Programs, 44% of reported hate murders in 2010 were
committed against transgender women.

Carrying identification that reflects your genuine, real-world self is basic—
whether you’re transgender or not. Th at’s what ID’s are for. So imagine if every
time you tried to travel, open a bank account or start a new job, someone harassed
you about your ID. Is it fake? Are you pretending to be someone you’re not?

It may seem obvious that the government has no business weighing in on
your gender when it comes to whom you marry. Yet LGBT people continue
to endure interference at the state and federal levels when it comes to respect
for their relationships.

Same-sex couples can begin applying for marriage licenses
on December 6, 2012. Washington law requires all couples to
wait three days after getting a marriage license before they can
hold a marriage ceremony

Before the end of this year, the U.S. Supreme Court will likely consider whether or not to hear one or more cases challenging the constitutionality of Section 3 of the so-called Defense of Marriage Act. Here are a few key things to know while we wait for that announcement.

As this issue of Impact goes to press, we await the outcome of historic votes about marriage for same-sex couples in four states, as we also await word on whether the Supreme Court will consider cases that we hope finally strike down Section 3 of the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA).